Where pricing is used to cover water supply costs (for example, cities committed to water demand management, private irrigation schemes, markets for irrigation water and penalties for water pollution), it is an important driver of reforms. Where prices cannot adjust to financial realities, stresses emerge as water shortages, water waste, inefficient water use, inadequate water infrastructure investments and poor water-related services. Water quality may be inconsistent, and maintenance and rehabilitation of distribution systems may be neglected. Capital investment may also be inadequate, resulting in the failure to develop adequate water supply and sanitation services.

However, even in situations where pricing is actively used to cover water supply costs, the long history of water as a public good means that water prices have been heavily subsidized by tax-funded distributions from individuals and corporations that maynot be direct beneficiaries of the services provided. (sid 61)

Teknikutvecklingen gör självfallet sitt till att minska bekymren:

Desalination based on brackish water sources (48%) and seawater (52%) is increasingly affordable as a result of new membrane technology ($0.60-$0.80 per cubic metre). (sid 155)

Rapporten beskriver även storföretagens roll i utsatta länder:

In 2000 the Coca-Cola Company began bottling operations in Kala Dera, a large village outside Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, where irrigated agriculture is the primary source of livelihood. Within a year the community noticed a rapid decline in groundwater levels, for which the plant was blamed. The community demanded closure of the plant, and the cause received some international support, mainly from university students in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, some of Coca-Cola’s largest markets. /.../For Coca-Cola the report noted that the company was a very small user of water, tapping less than 1% of the area’s available water. Nonetheless, the report recommended more consideration of community water needs in plant location and operations, arguing that ‘assessment of water availability in the vicinity of a bottling operation should be from a perspective . . . wider than business continuity’. Coca-Cola India pledged to reach a net-zero balance in groundwater useby the end of 2009, installed a rainwater harvesting system for groundwater recharge and drafted guidelines for engaging with the community. To help farmers use water more efficiently, Coca-Cola, in partnership with local farmers and the government, has started drip irrigation projects with 15 farmers. Some 15 more projects are planned in 2008-09.(sid 274-275)

The Coca-Cola example shows that companies have much to lose in public image and consumer trust when they compete with traditional uses of water. In this case the damage to the company’s image was potentially higher than the costs of taking preventive action. (sid 275)

Och bekymret med allmänningens tragedi går igen:

Energy demand and water use are closely linked (see chapter 7). Energy costs and concerns about energy efficiency can be brought to bear in addressing water issues. In parts of South Asia and other regions where farmers use groundwater drawn from private wells, the price of electricity needed for pumping is a powerful instrument for controlling groundwater abstraction by influencing farmers’ pumping behaviour.

However, electricity is underpriced in many areas. The arguments against raising electricity prices, and the practical problems in doing so, are similar to those for holding down irrigation water prices for small farmers. However, the rising cost of public subsidies for fuel and electric power has steeled the resolve of many governments to tackle this perverse incentive foroverabstraction of water. The metering of electricity to farmers in North China shows the efficacy of economic pricing for resource management, given the right institutional structure. (sid 279)

Key problems, he says, are bad design and poor construction. Aid agencies like to use local contractors, because it provides work and helps local economies. But Skinner says many are slipshod, corrupt or incompetent.